The Athletic Acceleration Program PART 2 – Maximum Strength
Welcome back to the Athletic Acceleration program!
You’ve been grinding away for the last four weeks, killing it during your workouts and relaxing during the recovery periods. But now is when we’re starting to get a bit more serious.
After finishing the hypertrophy phase, we’re moving on to the maximum strength phase. This phase will be different from the first one, so pay close attention.
Introduction
Like I said before, our workout model consists of sequentially training hypertrophy, maximum strength, and converting it to explosive power.
You built up a solid foundation of muscle, which is a prerequisite for developing maximum strength. Our job now is to improve our maximum force output as much as possible. That way, we have a lot of force we can then transfer to improve our rate of force development (how quickly you can develop force.)
The program consists of 3 phases:
- A 3+1 week hypertrophy phase, which you already went through
- A 3+1 week maximum strength phase
- And a 3+1 week power phase
Our central nervous system is the main factor when it comes to strength expression. It tells the muscles how much force to extort and how fast to extort it.
The more efficient our CNS gets, the more muscle fibers we will be able to use for a certain movement. That’s why our main goal during the maximum strength phase is to improve neural efficiency.
What Is RPE?
Still very important to us is the concept of RPE. RPE is a scale that subjectively measures the intensity of a lift. It goes from 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest intensity on the scale. Everything below 6 could be considered a warmup, while 9 and 10 should be hit just occasionally, not every session. You can also label a set with a .5, for example, 8.5, if you’re not sure if you got 1 or 2 reps left in the tank. The majority of your work should be around 7 and 8. You can see the explained scale below.
- 10 — Max effort, you have no more reps left in the tank
- 9 — You have another rep left in you, but it’s a grinder
- 8 — You have around 2 or 3 reps left. This is your sweet spot, along with 7
- 7 — The sweet spot along with 8, you should live here
- 6 — Pretty light. You should add more weight unless said otherwise
- 5 & below — This is basically a warmup
Rest and Nutrition
Just like the past 4 weeks, quality sleep and nutrition will be your best friends during the next 8 weeks.
Sleep is a key element in reducing the risk of sports injuries. For example, a recent study showed that athletes who over 8 hours each night were more than 50% less likely to be injured than athletes who regularly slept less.
People who sleep from 8 to 10 hours per night will drastically improve their recovery and, therefore, their performance. To improve the quality of your sleep, try avoiding as much artificial light as you can at least 1 hour before going to bed. Keep your room cool, as research has shown that the optimal room temperature for great sleep is around 18°C or 65°F.
When it comes to nutrition, you should get around 2 and 2.5 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. That’s somewhere between 0.9 and 1.1 grams per pound of bodyweight for all you imperial folks.
You should bump up your caloric surplus a bit more during this phase. A balanced diet’s general rule of thumb would be 3:2:1, meaning 3 grams of carbs, 2 grams of protein, and 1 gram of fats. So an athlete weighing 80 kg would need to eat 240 g of carbs, 160 g of protein, and 80 g of fats.
The supplements that I always recommend are creatine and whey protein. Whey is great at helping you reach your protein goals for the day, although it most definitely isn’t a steroid. Creatine will allow you to recover faster and produce more force. The dose that researchers recommend is somewhere around 0.1 g of creatine per kilogram of body weight, but you need to make sure you don’t take more than 5 grams at once because it might lead to some stomach problems you don’t want to experience.
A Few Details Before You Start
Correct form is critical in this phase. You should never sacrifice correct technique for more weight. A proper warmup before every workout is also a must. Get your heart rate going for 3-5 minutes by walking on an incline, then do a dynamic warmup. After that, you should activate your core, glutes, or scapular stabilizers, depending on the day, and you’re good to go.
It would be great to use a proper weightlifting or powerlifting belt for this phase. A good belt will help you keep your core rigid and decrease the chances of getting injured.
If needed, increase the rest intervals between your main sets. You can also bring down the reps a bit if you had a bad night’s sleep or are just feeling bad in the gym on a given day.
The main exercises should be done with a controlled descent and a fast concentric action.
The intensity will ramp up during the first three weeks, ending with a 1-week deload at the end of the phase. Finally, on the last two days of the phase, we will max out on our key lifts.
If needed, you can run two maximum strength phases back-to-back. By doing that, you’ll be able to generate more force that can be converted to explosive power.
The split used for this phase will be an Upper Body/Lower Body, 4 times a week split.
Exercises are labeled with letters. For example, exercises labeled as A1 and A2 mean that a superset should be performed, while exercises labeled just as A, B, C, etc., mean that they are done like straight sets. We will note the RPE only for the main exercises. Don’t go to failure unless it’s advised otherwise.
The %1RM column represents what percentage of your previously tested 1RM you should use for a given exercise.
You should do the main exercises with a controlled descent and a fast concentric action.
| Phase 2 – Maximum Strength | ||||||
| WEEK 1 | ||||||
| Monday – Upper Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Bench Press | 3 | 5 | 8 | 82.5 | 3 min |
| B1 | Cable/Chest Supported Row | 3 | 8 | 8 | / | 30 sec |
| B2 | Overhead Press | 3 | 10 | 7 | / | 2 min |
| C | Face Pulls | 3 | 15 | / | / | 1 min |
| D | Pallof Press | 3 | 8 | / | / | 1 min |
| Tuesday – Lower Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Trap Bar Deadlift | 3 | 5 | 8 | 82.5 | 3 min |
| B | Hip Thrust | 3 | 5 | 9 | / | 3 min |
| C | Pogo Jump | 2 | 10 | / | / | 1 min |
| D | Copenhagen Plank | 2 | 30 sec | / | / | 1 min |
| E | Stir The Pot | 2 | 7/7 | / | / | 1 min |
| Thursday – Upper Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Bench Press | 3 | 6 | 8 | 80 | 3 min |
| B1 | Cable/Chest Supported Row | 3 | 8 | 8 | / | 30 sec |
| B2 | Overhead Press | 3 | 10 | 7 | / | 2 min |
| C | Face Pulls | 3 | 15 | / | / | 1 min |
| D | Cable Woodchoppers | 3 | 5 | / | / | 1 min |
| Tuesday – Lower Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Back Squat | 3 | 5 | 8 | 82.5 | 3 min |
| B | Trap Bar Deadlift | 3 | 5 | 8 | 77.5 | 3 min |
| C | Paloff Press | 3 | 8/8 | / | / | 90 sec |
| D | Straight Leg Calf Raise | 2 | 12 | 9 | / | 2 min |
| E | Bent Leg Calf Raise | 2 | 10 | 9 | / | 2 min |
Congrats on finishing the first week! Be sure to get enough food and sleep during the weekend to be ready for the next week, it will be harder than this one.
| Phase 2 – Maximum Strength | ||||||
| WEEK 2 | ||||||
| Monday – Upper Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Bench Press | 4 | 5 | 9 | 85 | 4 min |
| B1 | Cable/Chest Supported Row | 3 | 8 | 8 | / | 30 sec |
| B2 | Overhead Press | 2 | 10 | 7 | / | 2 min |
| C | Face Pulls | 3 | 15 | / | / | 1 min |
| D | Pallof Press | 3 | 8 | / | / | 1 min |
| Tuesday – Lower Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Trap Bar Deadlift | 3 | 5 | 9 | 85 | 3.5 min |
| B | Hip Thrust | 3 | 5 | 8 | / | 3 min |
| C | Pogo Jump | 3 | 10 | / | / | 1 min |
| D | Countermovement Jumps | 3 | 5 | / | / | 2 min |
| E | Stir The Pot | 2 | 7/7 | / | / | 1 min |
| Thursday – Upper Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Bench Press | 3 | 5 | 8 | 85 | 3.5 min |
| B1 | Cable/Chest Supported Row | 2 | 8 | 8 | / | 30 sec |
| B2 | Overhead Press | 2 | 10 | 7 | / | 2 min |
| C | Face Pulls | 3 | 15 | / | / | 1 min |
| D | Pallof Press | 3 | 8 | / | / | 1 min |
| Tuesday – Lower Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Back Squat | 3 | 4 | 8 | 85 | 3.5 min |
| B | Trap Bar Deadlift | 3 | 5 | 8 | 80 | 3.5 min |
| C | Countermovement Jumps | 3 | 5 | / | / | 2 min |
| D | Paloff Press | 3 | 8/8 | / | / | 1 min |
| E | Straight Leg Calf Raise | 3 | 10 | 9 | / | 2 min |
Week two is done, good job.
Get enough food and sleep, because the next week will be the hardest one so far!
| Phase 2 – Maximum Strength | ||||||
| WEEK 3 | ||||||
| Monday – Upper Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Bench Press | 5 | 3 | 9 | 87.5 | 4 min |
| B | Cable/Chest Supported Row | 3 | 8 | 8 | / | 2.5 min |
| C | Face Pulls | 3 | 15 | / | / | 1 min |
| D | Pallof Press | 3 | 8 | / | / | 1 min |
| Tuesday – Lower Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Trap Bar Deadlift | 5 | 4 | 9 | 87.5 | 4 min |
| B | Pogo Jump | 3 | 10 | / | / | 1 min |
| C | Copenhagen Plank | 2 | 30 sec | / | / | 1 min |
| D | Countermovement Jumps | 2 | 5 | / | / | 2 min |
| E | Stir The Pot | 2 | 7/7 | / | / | 1 min |
| Thursday – Upper Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Bench Press | 4 | 1-2 | 8 | 90 | 4.5 min |
| B | Cable/Chest Supported Row | 2 | 8 | 8 | / | 30 sec |
| C | Face Pulls | 3 | 15 | / | / | 1 min |
| D | Cable Woodchoppers | 3 | 5 | / | / | 1 min |
| Tuesday – Lower Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Back Squat | 4 | 4 | 8 | 85 | 5 min |
| B | Trap Bar Deadlift | 3 | 5 | 8 | 82.5 | 4 min |
| C | Paloff Press | 3 | 8/8 | / | / | 90 sec |
The hard part is over, congrats.
Next week will be a deload week, along with 2 max-out days. Fully recover during the weekend in order to get the best results during the max-outs.
| Phase 2 – Maximum Strength | ||||||
| WEEK 4 – Deload Week | ||||||
| Monday – Upper Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Bench Press | 3 | 5 | 5 | 40 | 4 min |
| B1 | Cable/Chest Supported Row | 2 | 8 | 5 | / | 45 sec |
| B2 | Overhead Press | 2 | 10 | 5 | / | 3 min |
| C | Face Pulls | 2 | 15 | / | / | 2 min |
| D | Pallof Press | 1 | 8 | / | / | / |
| Tuesday – Lower Body | ||||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | RPE | %1RM | Rest |
| A | Trap Bar Deadlift | 3 | 5 | 5 | 40 | 4 min |
| B | Hip Thrust | 1 | 5 | 5 | / | / |
| C | Pogo Jump | 2 | 8 | / | / | 2 min |
| D | Countermovement Jumps | 1 | 5 | / | / | / |
| E | Stir The Pot | 1 | 7/7 | / | / | / |
| The protocol will be the same as in the last phase. Properly warmup before starting to max out. Then follow the 1RM percentages and hit your new maxes! | ||||||
| Thursday – Upper Body | ||||||
| # | Bench Press 1RM Testing | % of 1RM | Reps | Rest | ||
| 1 | 30-50% | 8 | 2 min | |||
| 2 | 60% | 5 | 2 min | |||
| 3 | 70% | 3 | 3 min | |||
| 4 | 80% | 1 | 3 min | |||
| 5 | 90% | 1 | 5 min | |||
| 6 | 100% | 1 | 5-15 min | |||
| 7+ | 102% | 1 | 5-15 min | |||
| Friday – Lower body | ||||||
| # | Squat 1RM Testing | % of 1RM | Reps | Rest | ||
| 1 | 30-50% | 8 | 2 min | |||
| 2 | 60% | 5 | 2 min | |||
| 3 | 70% | 3 | 3 min | |||
| 4 | 80% | 1 | 3 min | |||
| 5 | 90% | 1 | 5 min | |||
| 6 | 100% | 1 | 5-15 min | |||
| 7+ | 102% | 1 | 5-15 min | |||
| # | Trap Bar Deadlift 1RM Testing | % of 1RM | Reps | Rest | ||
| 1 | 30-50% | 8 | 2 min | |||
| 2 | 60% | 5 | 2 min | |||
| 3 | 70% | 3 | 3 min | |||
| 4 | 80% | 1 | 3 min | |||
| 5 | 90% | 1 | 5 min | |||
| 6 | 100% | 1 | 5-15 min | |||
| 7+ | 102% | 1 | 5-15 min |